Advertisers using Facebook will no longer be able to specifically target demographics based on sex, gender, or “ethnic affinity.”

On Notice

Facebook recently found itself in hot water at the discovery of its long-adopted practice of excluding ads promoting housing, credit, and employment opportunities based on one’s ethnicity, among many other discriminatory factors.

The outcome generated by this initiative will most greatly impact African-American, Asian American and US Hispanic communities.

Creed and colour capsize ad-culture

In response to public outrage, Facebook has updated its policies having collaborated with civil rights leaders and policy makers in generating critical feedback on redesigning the nature of online ad-culture.

The social network is looking to be proactive as well as reactive, having designed complementary tools that identify housing, credit, and employment ads being made inaccessible based on personal characteristics.

The shift in restrictions to discriminatory advertising could mark a change in how businesses reach out to key demographics. The new online culture will take some remolding in the wake of losing specific analytics but could also reach new consumers previously off the radar.